Sports how they impacted my life

I believe in sports and the impact it has had on my life. For me sports have always been more then just games to play with friends. To me sports was everything, I had sports posters, sports pillow cases, watched sports movies. My whole life revolved around sports. I’ve been consumed by them since the day I was born.

When I was young I was like any other kid except for I have always been short and until about sixth grade I was skinny as a twig. These two faults in my genetic make up made it so it was hard for me to do some things I wanted to do. My favorite sport had always been football, but due to my size I did not meet the weight requirements to play. So because of that I had to play other sports such as soccer and basketball. Even as a child I knew playing these sports would only make me better, but mainly just wanted to play football. Even though I was not always motivated to play these sports they had taught me a key element that would be necessary later in football and later in life that was teamwork.

By the time I reached high school I finally could do what I always wanted to do and that was play football. As the years passed I had always been known to be a hard worker and thanks to what I was taught earlier I was a great team player on the field and was always rewarded for being that type of player. Due to this people on the team used to jokingly call me Rudy because my heart and love for the game was noticeable to anyone who knew me. While for some people football was only a seasonal thing, I was either lifting or running routes and going over things with coaches the whole year. Although I loved what I was doing it had setbacks because I was so devoted to football my grades and sometimes social life suffered.

Through out the four years I played coaches would always constantly pound phrases in your head, such as never quit and fight through adversity no matter what the odds are against you and it will only make you stronger. All that time I never realized what all that truly meant. To me it was just things they had heard in there glory days and liked to yell at us. I knew those words had meaning, but I guess it just never clicked to me in high school how important they really were.

After high school was over and I began to enter my adult hood in the real world I began to recall all the things sports had taught me and those phrases I had heard so many times. I began to realize that those weren’t just phrases they were keys to life to help you be successful. I started to figure out that the things they had pounded into my head all that time wasn’t just for the game those things were meant for me to know when I entered adult hood.

sports may be just games played for fun, but in all reality the things that you learn in sports are taught to you for a significant purpose. As I think about it now I still haven’t totally got it implemented with my school work, but in the work place I constantly get complimented for my work ethic and my good team work. I look to implement the things I was taught in every aspect of my life. As I look at things such as divorces and broken family’s I wonder that all would have be the same if they had been pounded with the things I had been told over and over again. Never quit, Fight through adversity and it will make you stronger these are phrases that if you stick to I have learned will help you work through obstacles in your life.

All in all I feel comfortable going into my future with the characteristics and mind set I have developed through sports. Sports have impacted my life by giving me the understanding that I can get past any obstacles that come my way with hard work and a will not quit attitude. I also feel that these are things I can pass on to my children and they can experience themselves through sports. Sports have made a lasting impact on my life. For this I believe.

Shop on Amazon and support This I Believe

We receive up to 10% of every purchase you make on Amazon through this link. So do all your holiday shopping here and help support This I Believe!

Top 100 Essays USB Drive

This USB drive contains 100 of the top This I Believe audio broadcasts of the last ten years, plus some favorites from Edward R. Murrow's radio series of the 1950s. It's perfect for personal or classroom use! Click here to learn more.

This week’s essay

Growing up in the former Yugoslavia, lawyer Djenita Pasic enjoyed the peace of her religiously diverse country. But after the fall of communism and the outbreak of the Bosnian War, Pasic was forced to reevaluate her ideas about religion and tolerance. Click here to read her essay.